RHQ: So is that the overriding thing? Have the Raptors made overtures to you that they'd like him back?

LY: They've said that they want him back. They didn't make him a qualifying offer so that obviously means that if they do want him back, they're not quite sure right now how things are going to go.

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RHQ: Do you think long-term there's a place for Joey in Toronto? Have you talked with the Raptors about him coming back?

LY: Yeah, I think there's a great opportunity for him there, they've got some good pieces obviously with some of the new things going on with coaching and different pieces that they're putting together. Toronto's still a great city, and they've had some great teams up there in the past so it's not like a black hole and no one wants to play there, but Joey's just looking for an opportunity to play, that's the biggest thing. The money would be great, but he just needs playing time. Even to come off the bench and play 15 minutes a game consistently is what we'd be looking for.

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RHQ: Talk about Joey's season with Toronto, how did you feel it went?

LY: Well obviously he would have liked to have played more minutes and just been a little bit more of a contributor, but I think he realized that they had a lot of good, young players. I think Joey's still trying to find that perfect fit for him. He had glimpses of greatness with a few of his games with 20 points, the dominant rebounding, and some of the stuff he was doing, but, I think he's just looking for a chance just to play. All these guys that are young that really develop, it's because they have playing time. There's very few young players that go from their rookie to their sophomore to their junior year improving dramatically, sitting on the bench, it's just unheard of.

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RHQ: I noticed on your client list you've got a lot of players who've flown under the NBA radar initially, and you folks have done a great job getting them into that NBA spotlight, guys like Wes Matthews and Landry Fields, and even Gary Forbes; Joey fits that mould too so from a long term perspective, are there certain NBA teams that you actively seek out because they're more willing to take chances on players like this?

LY: I'm not sure about the teams themselves but Joey and I have had a lot of conversations since the season's been over saying "this is his year," this is the year he has to prove that he's not just a minimum (contract) NBA player. Joey's good enough to be an NBA starter, if you look around the league and you see 5's and 4's that are starters, there's no reason Joey can't do that. I think that's kind of the million dollar question for me, for Joey, his Mom, teams, there's something that's missing there and we can't really put our finger on it. I keep coming back to playing time and role; when he was at Memphis, he knew his role. They used him as an enforcer, as a rebounder and defender. They had everything else around him, they had shooters, they had scorers, he just said, "you know what, I'm going to go out and get 15 rebounds a night, I'm going to block three or four shots, and I'm going to get my two or three dunks and one jump shot, and that's my game."

Since he's been in the NBA, I just don't think anybody's given him a chance to do that. Obviously it's on him as well as the coaching staff that decides to invest some money into him, so again, it's trying to find that right situation, that right coach in fact. It's not a system issue either, Joey can play in any system. It's not like he needs to get up and down the court more, or he's not fast enough etc. He just needs a coach that will give him a chance to play and try to develop through playing time, and not just through practice either. You know, there's a lot of NBA teams that practice two or three hours a week and that's it! So it's really hard to develop if you're not a legitimate rotation player.

I really don't think that Joey is a starter on any team in this league, but I agree with some of his points. For example, one thing in Joey's favour is that he usually looks to be working hard and does a lot of the dirty work that this team needs help with desperately. He can defend relatively well, doesn't try to assert himself too much offensively when he shouldn't, and can rebound the ball at a good clip. Still, it is hard for me to imagine that he'll ever get a salary over a million per season, and even harder for me to imagine him starting.

Guys like Weems and Dorsey are very replaceable. You don't overpay them, especially going into a new CBA. Young, athletic guys come and go and if they're not happy with playing time and a roster spot then move on to the next young, athletic player that needs a chance. You don't get ahead by overpaying guys like Dorsey and Weems. The qualifying offer was overly generous to each, Weems just decided to go get paid and that's a smart decision for him.

Really? So Zalgiris is paying him more than that? Any idea of his salary there?

I don't know, but it had more to do with there not being any basketball this year (in all likelihood, and at the least only getting half-pay for a half-season), and getting guaranteed money and some playing time over there.

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Originally Posted by jeffb

Measly?

That's a raise after he had a horrible injured filled season.

I was just referencing what 6cubed said. It was a QO, which means regardless of the amount, the team didn't even have control over how much was offered - just whether to offer it.